If like to set the tracking on my defender, any pointers how to do this ?

Cheers

Hi
Might be worth trying a search. Lots of info about the string method and others.

I made an adjustable length steel bar to use to set the distance on the inside edge of the front tyres.

Also depends if you are starting from scratch, centerings steering, drag arm , etc etc

Cheers

i went down the route of a track ace for about 60 quid as i was forking out a fortune to keep mrs T-Ds car on the straight and true as she has a love for pot holes and hugging the kerb.

Damn near every time i drove it to work id end up taking it to the garage at lunch time to get tracking done and it was about 25 quid - then one day the garage said it would be 65 quid as they had fitted a new 4 wheel laser system - they couldnt grasp that my torsion bar was fixed and that even if it was out i didnt want to know - and that i would not be paying 65 quid !

Now it takes me about 25 minutes to sort it out with the track ace after getting frustrated at the length of time to set up the string method. - i did have good results with two tape measures and a helper but thats only any use if your steerings in the ballpark to begin with



and while i wouldnt suggest it to anyone with a lotus elise or other car that handles sensitively to tracking adjustment its good enough for rudimentry adjustments needed to keep a land rover going down the road in a straight line, even tire wear and vibration free..... it certainly keeps my french motors going well.

I have a track ace and used it on me Freelander. I set the wheels in pairs with the track ace then used parallel strings to make sure the wheels were evenly pointing forwards. Then checked it again. Kept doing this until it was perfect. Worked ok for me.

i aint knocking the track ace hippo , its fine for our cars ... i just wouldnt like to use it on something thats sensitive to tracking set up -

top drive said:

i aint knocking the track ace hippo , its fine for our cars ... i just wouldnt like to use it on something thats sensitive to tracking set up -

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I agree. I think high speed cars would need a finer tolerance. Having said that if you persevere (I was struggling to find a garage other than main dealer) with it it can be done to a small tolerance. The track width of the front and rear axles pairs on a Freelander 1 are different. The rear wheels have a rear thrust angle which was out on mine. If this is not set correctly then it will pull to 1 side, and/or have excess tyre wear. Mine was pulling to the left and the fronts can't be set to compensate for this. By using parallel lines I could check everything was straight after the track ace, which was you know only works on wheel pairs and not forwards between axle alignment. There was going to be a 4x4 version to help with this but the chap never released it which is a shame. Managed to solve my problems in the end.

Personally I took mine to kwik-fit, they've recheck and adjusted it after I replaced a track rod end and even re did it after I swapped the front axle for a Disco one and they only charged me for the initial time

Just taken my 90 to ATS, checked and adjusted for £25, was straight forward as new track rod ends and all was copper greased when they were replaced, only problem was they didn't have a 27mm spanner so had to fetch mine.

I went to an ATS last year, was told they could not adjust, the guy started waffling about the multiple adjustment bars, specialised job, blah, blah, blah, he only looked at the drag arm???

Went on their website a while ago , I do like the way a specialist spells "Axel"

Cheers